


Lost in the Darkness

by WriterofGotham



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman - Fandom, Batman and Robin (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Damian Needs a Hug, Damian doesn't understand 'family', Damian is done, Damian is responsible, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Killer Croc - Freeform, No Major Character Death!, Robin bros, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Tim needs a hug, hurt tim, no editing we die like robins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-21 10:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12456036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterofGotham/pseuds/WriterofGotham
Summary: "Tim, you better not die, you just have to hang on till we are rescued." Damian whispered to him as he shivered in the cold.





	1. Chapter 1

Red Robin and Robin were thrown roughly into a a liitle hole in the sewer by Killer Croc, Robin hit his head as he fell, Red Robin had already been stabbed by the mutant man/crocodile claws. Tim hit the bottom hard, after the shock wore off he tried to find Damian. He was handcuffed in front of him and it hurt him to move no matter how slight the movement was.

He sat against the decrepit brick walls and broke into one of the compartments in his suit pulling out gauze packs he pressed it painfully into his side as he tried to slow the bleeding, both his and Damian's belts had been taken after they had been beaten by Killer Croc. Time passed slowly as he waited for Damian to wake up. He was beginning to worry about the young Robin when he finally stirred.

Dark and cold, those were the first thoughts that hit Damian when he regained consciousness. It had to be a some sort of dungeon or maybe a cellar that he was in. His head hurt and he didn't remember what had happened to him. He was in his Robin suit, but he didn't think he had gotten kidnapped. He didn't remember anything very clearly.

"Dames, you awake?" Tim asked in a whisper.

So Drake was here too, that made Damian feel better even though he'd rather die again than admit it.

"Regrettably, I am. What happened to us?" Damian answered back in a whisper. He tried to shift to be more comfortable, but it was hard because he was handcuffed behind his back and his feet were shackled, also.

"We were caught by Killer Croc, he brought us down here to use as leverage against B. Most of our gear has been taken. Are you sure you're alright, you were out for a long time?" Tim asked, as he tried to move closer to Damian. Damian in turn tried to get closer to Tim, wherever they were was cold.

"I am perfectly fine, except for a stupid headache." Damian huffed before adding, "tt, you never said if you were injured or not."

The sewer sounds seemed to amplify as Damian waited for an answer: drip, splash, rats chittering, another drip, and yet another splash.

"I shouldn't die, from it." Tim Drake replied to Damian, in a voice that tried to convey a sense of humor and making light of the situation.

Damian shifted and the water splashed around him. It must be bad if Tim is trying to use humor to make it seem less serious than it was, that was a bad sign. Damian looked at where Tim was, but in the darkness of the sewer he may as well have been blind.

"Father will find us, Nightwing might first he will undoubtedly cuddle and insist on hugging afterwards. Agent A. will have something hot for us when we get home. You shouldn't drink so much coffee." Damian said deadpanning even though no one could see it.

"I'm never," Tim paused for a second as a faint shudder coursed through him. "giving up coffee. You should know that by now."

Damian got even closer to Tim, as he tried to pick the locks of his handcuffs. It took a few minutes. Blast his stupid headache!

"Do you have your handcuffs off? Of course I understand if you don't." Damian said without malice.

"I couldn't...get... them off." Tim replied simply, tiredly.

Damian noticed when he picked the locks that Tim's hands were tacky with blood. Thats why he was stuttering and had slurred speech, he was suffering from blood loss. That made a cold and hard feeling well up in him. Enough Robins had died, no more needed to die for a lost cause of a city.

"Do you need anymore gauze packs?" Damian asked, as his headache grew steadily worse.

"I've bled through... all of mine...yeah... I could use them." Tim slurred. Damian applied the bandages the best he could in the dark. Damian felt sweat running down his back even though he was exposed to the frigid air and water.

"I'm sure Father, Grayson, Todd, or anyone will come to save us. You will be alright, though it will be hard to suffer through Grayson's endless hugs and kisses." Damian told him with more conviction than he felt sitting in a freezing sewer beside his brother, who was slowly bleeding out. He hoped that he wasn't lying that they would come in time. It wasn't like they could escape in the dark without knowing where they are, and Damian knew he couldn't carry Tim.

"I never thought...I'd die beside you... maybe by you." Tim laughed, but it had no humor in it. "Not in a...swewer and... not as a hostage."

"Good thing you're not going to die here then. We will be rescued in time." Damian stated, even though he was beginning to doubt it. Why hadn't Grayson and his Father come to save them? They had to know they were missing shouldn't they already be there?

"He's... been late... before." Tim replied as a harsh grating cough escaped his lips, which blood trickled down.

"He likes you the best. You saved him." Damian said muttered.

"He likes... Cass best." Tim replied, "He... saved... me."

Damian didn't know what to say back, "He will save you again." Damian grew more worried when Tim didn't reply.

"They better come in time." Damian said to know one in the darkness that surrounded him. "Father won't lose us." Damian tried to keep pressure on his wound, without light the best he could think of was that Tim had been impaled by one of Killer Croc's claws. The fool had tried not to worry him, but it didn't work because now Damian felt even more alone, and scared because Tim might die. Robins weren't immortal Damian felt his shoulder ache were he had been stabbed by the Hetric.

"Tim, you better not die, you just have to hang on till we are rescued. Pennyworth and Thompkins will be able to provide whatever medical care your wound requires. If you die you won't be able to see Infinity Wars!" Damian added he knew that Tim wanted to see the Avengers movie. Damian himself didn't like the unrealistic fighting and how irresponsible billionaires were portrayed.

Damain tried to keep talking so the sounds from the sewer didn't seem so deafening to him: splash, drip, rats, more splashing, another drip. "I might even go with you and Grayson to see it. Black Panther may not be disappointing, he reminds me of Aquaman. Father and Grayson will be here soon enough. Any minute now, or they better be."

Damian sighed, he placed another bandage over the one he had put on originally if they didn't get here soon, it be too late for Tim.

His head still hurt and all he wanted was to just go home. So when he saw a faint light he thought he was imagining it. Until he heard the unmistakable voice of Grayson, "Robin, Red Robin."

"Red Robin, Robin where are you?" Batman's gravelly voice rang out.

They weren't going to die in that stupid sewer, freezing cold, and with only themselves waiting on someone that would come to late. Damian cried out,"We are over here. Hurry!" Damian held back the urge to ask what took them so long to find them.

Nightwing and Batman ran over to them as fast as they could.

With the flashlights they saw a miserable Damian and a much too pale Tim. The rats scurried away as Batman and Nightwing grew closer to them. Batman reached them first as he leaned over to check them. He lifted Tim carefully in his gauntleted arms. Nightwing helped Damian up, because he was stiff from the cold that filled the sewer.

"You''re going to be alright. We made it in time, Robin." Nightwing murmured to the shaken Robin. They hurried out of the sewer, Damian saw where Killer Croc was restrained. They rushed into the Batmobile and raced back to the Batcave where Alfred and Leslie where waiting for them.

Damian meant to stay awake after he'd taken a shower, but he fell sleep before Tim was out of surgery. His headache was thankfully gone and he could think again, Alfred had given him the all clear. Dick had held Damian and tried to cuddle him, even though Damian weakly protested it. In a few few hours Tim was resting, out of surgery when Damian woke up. He ventured over where Tim was in the med bay, he wanted to make sure he really was going to be alright. 

"Tt, I am glad you are going to live. No more dead Robins." Damian whispered to Tim, who was still sedated. "No more dead Robins."


	2. Chapter 2

"You do care, Dami," Dick said in an almost hushed voice even though Damian's headache was gone and Tim was still unconscious. The older man made his way to the med bay watching the younger of his brothers being together, for Damian's part willingly. He had never felt more useless than when he had been searching for his little brothers and couldn't find them. Damian wasn't in his room and Tim, of course, wasn't either.

"The family would suffer should any of us fall off the roster, that is all," Damian replied backing away from Tim as if to prove that he and Tim weren't on better terms. The time spent in the sewer changed Damian. He was still Damian to be sure, but he was different. He was almost in shock that Tim willingly protected him even though he knew there was a chance he could die.

"I heard you, 'no more dead Robins'. I agree Bruce saved all us, only for me to have to fake my death, Jason to be beaten to death, you to die at the hand of your clone, and a ton of crap for Tim to have to deal with all because we wore the 'R'. It's an unspoken rule, Robins take care of each other," Dick explained.

Damian held back the urge to roll his eyes, knowing that what Dick said was real. Robin's had a knack for disobeying orders and sucking at staying alive. That wasn't quite right, Damian thought back to the fight with Killer Croc, how many times had Tim pushed him out of the way and taken the brunt of the fighting to keep him safe. It was infuriating, but he knew that Killer Croc was out of his league, for right now. Robin's looked after each other, too. Batman couldn't be everywhere at once, and as loathe as he was too admit it, Batman couldn't fix every problem. His father was far from perfect even though he loved all of his children he couldn't stop any of their deaths.

"I was merely thanking him for helping me fight the mutant. What would have happened if," Damian started to ask looking at Tim's unconscious form, and then at Dick, "If you and father were a few more minutes late?"

"It wouldn't happen. I'll come for you, or Tim, or Jason, or Bruce. You won't be alone, Dami," Dick promised. "We have to look out for each other."

Damian didn't like that answer Tim err, Drake, had really come that close to dying? For him? He almost didn't believe it. He had seen the blood work they had done on Tim to make sure he didn't have any infection or toxins so he wasn't drugged or anything like that. It wasn't right Damian wouldn't have done it for him. He would have for Father or Grayson, but they would never be in the situation to need it. Being Robin and having 'siblings' was nothing that he had ever been trained for it left him in debt and he did not know how to repay it. Being apart of the Robin Legacy had expectations for him to uphold. Protect former and current Robins almost like they had a secret code that hadn't been told to him until it could be shown to him.

* * *

Tim woke up slowly hearing murmured voices. He wished that he could just fall back asleep or die. His head hurt and he felt fuzzy all over. Pain was just coming back,like he'd been given something and it was wearing off. He opened his eyes slowly, the heavy lids came up to show Bruce and Alfred. It seemed like they were discussing something or another. Tim suddenly remembered the events from last night. Damian... where was he? He looked around the other beds in the infirmary were empty, but that didn't mean he got off scot free. Tim tried to get up, but failed as Alfred and Bruce noticed he was awake Bruce gently put his hand on his shoulder to keep him still.

"Is Damian ok?" Tim asked still searching for the little gremlin.

"He is quite alright. I must say you have given us a good scare. Dr. Thompkins has already taken her leave," Alfred replied before muttering, "Lucky that she was able to come on such short notice."

Tim could feel the tension fade from his body because Damian was safe, and somehow he was still alive. "What happened last night?"

"It was two and a half nights ago. Dick and I were patrolling Gotham when we got a message from Killer Croc that he had you two. We fought with him and he finally told us were you were. We came just in time, if were just a few minutes later I don't know if you would have made it. Damian was really worried about you, we all were," Bruce explained as he tried to adjust the lightweight blanket around Tim. Bruce was trying to be less awkward around him, Tim gave him a weak smile.

"Oh, it's good that you came in time," Tim muttered right before his eyes shut and he drifted back in to the darkness of sleep.

Alfred checked over the IVs. Bruce ran his fingers through Tim's hair the ebony locks going in all directions. "This was so much easier when I didn't have kids."

"Master Bruce, you say that, but think of how much harder it was. You didn't have a son to get excited when a criminal was put away, a son who would debate the finer points of classic literature with the Riddler, a son that needed to be needed to know that he had a place and a family that wanted him, a son who needed a home and a purpose other than what his mother wanted. A daughter that needed a family, a real father not just a handler. They all needed you as much as you did them," Alfred pointed out. "Even now even if you don't adopt more children you'll still be a father figure to them."

"It seems that I always needed them more than they needed me," Bruce mused.

"None of you has had an easy road to carve. They have all changed so much last year, Tim protected Damian. Damian protected Tim. You're proud of both your sons," Alfred replied.

"I know, I know, I don't understand why they always have to get hurt and be killed," Bruce softly said as he turned to face the old butler.

Alfred simply let his son come to him as he gently embraced him, "It's hard to see your children suffer. Especially when you can't always protect them, at least your sons can protect each other."


End file.
